Thoughts - Week Thursday

[Townhallsavoy]

- I don't really feel like this game mattered much.  Nice to get a win over a top 25 team from a different conference on their turf. 

- But I didn't care.  From the time the game started until Duke caught the game-sealing pass, I just kept wanting to get it over with. 

- I don't think we learned much about our team either.  A group of Alabama boys were in Manhattan, Kansas on a Thursday night in late September.  Do you think they were circling this game on the calendar?

- In fact, I'm glad we played flat.  You can only get a team really hyped up for a handful of games a year.  Considering what's on the schedule after next Saturday, I hope we still have a lot of adrenaline left in the tank.

- The one area of issue is Nick Marshall.  He's the most dangerous offensive weapon we have and if he could just be more consistent on his deep ball, we would score 50 a game. 

[bgreene]

Did Auburn play last night?
Seriously, was it me or did Coats just look like he could'nt care less about playing? Hell, everybody in orange and blue appeared that way!  Auburn had the chance to show the world that they are fo reel, and all they showed was that they look like they will lose 2 or 3 games this year if not more.  I truely hope they get heads out of ass and get back to doing what they do.

[wesfau2]

- The one area of issue is Nick Marshall.  He's the most dangerous offensive weapon we have and if he could just be more consistent on his deep ball, we would score 50 a game.

There were a couple of overthrown balls, but there were 5 glaring drops that would have opened the scoring up.  The receivers all need to be running stadium stairs this weekend.

[Townhallsavoy]

There were a couple of overthrown balls, but there were 5 glaring drops that would have opened the scoring up.  The receivers all need to be running stadium stairs this weekend.

Oh definitely and not to mention the fact that our oline forgot one of the top five lessons of pass blocking - don't let the defensive linemen get their hands up on a 3 step drop. 

But it's not that there were a few overthrown balls last night.  It's that Marshall has a few overthrown balls every game.  He's just not going to connect those passes consistently.  The receivers are usually racing towards the endzone. 

[Kaos]

They remembered the first rule of blocking.  It's not holding if it doesn't get called. 


Maybe just because it was a Thursday game, but I was never worried.  There was never a single moment where I felt we wouldn't win.  No concern. 

If they'd kicked all those field goals, we would have scored three more TDs.  If they'd scored 50, we'd have scored 59.  If they scored 212 we'd have scored 227. 

We did just enough to get by. 

We stole their signals like we do every game.
We got lucky like we do every game.
Typical AU football.

[WiregrassTiger]

There is no such thing as a bitter win.

Marshall had an off night but still did enough. I counted 3 drops (2 by Williams and 1 by Sammy--one more by Sammy but they should've called pi on it, so I'm giving him a pass on it)

How many batted balls, 4? I'm putting those on Marshall. He either has to grow 6 inches or find a lane.

Zone read wasn't working. I don't know why but apparently Marshall's reads weren't right. He should've kept it more, it looked like to me.

He was off target a few times but there appeared to be a swirling wind. I saw us beat #1 UF one night with wind like that and they were a much better passing team than we are now.

KS is a better team than I expected. Better than Arky. If this were a race, we had thoroughbreds and they had a few donkeys and some goats. They made it a close finish. I'm impressed and Snyder coaches as advertised.

I still think that we are very good. I'm encouraged with our defenses progress. I apologize for cussing Trovon Reed out on two different occasions but it apparently helped him, since he had the key interception. I don't know if he'll be a solid CB or not. But apparently he's the best option we have. Hopefully, our DB's will continue improving. We sure need them to.

Bottom line is that they played with a sense of urgency and with a chip on their shoulder. We played like this is just one that we are supposed to show up and win. Almost like we were playing not to lose. But, we didn't. So, that says something that we came through on a final drive and put it away. On the road and against a top 20 team.

3 more field goals and a safety and the score is right on the number that I predicted.

[Saniflush]

They remembered the first rule of blocking.  It's not holding if it doesn't get called. 


Maybe just because it was a Thursday game, but I was never worried.  There was never a single moment where I felt we wouldn't win.  No concern. 

If they'd kicked all those field goals, we would have scored three more TDs.  If they'd scored 50, we'd have scored 59.  If they scored 212 we'd have scored 227. 

We did just enough to get by. 

We stole their signals like we do every game.
We got lucky like we do every game.
Typical AU football.

All of this.  I couldn't understand why I was not concerned last night when we kept having missed opportunity after missed opportunity.  I even thought to myself, "I better go grab my lucky hat and put it on", then decided nah, Gus got dis without me evoking the extra mojo.

[jmar]

I saw two overthrows and the one just beyond Coates that was as good as anyone could place a ball for your burner. What nobody wants to see is Nick trying to take zip off his ball and under throwing receivers. A little air doesn't hurt if you are as accurate as old Peyton Manning but Nick doesn 't need to start getting cute, especially when things aren't going our way. JMO.

[WiregrassTiger]

I saw two overthrows and the one just beyond Coates that was as good as anyone could place a ball for your burner. What nobody wants to see is Nick trying to take zip off his ball and under throwing receivers. A little air doesn't hurt if you are as accurate as old Peyton Manning but Nick doesn 't need to start getting cute, especially when things aren't going our way. JMO.

I agree. I don't think we can blame anything on Nick's passing, except the win. We wouldn't have won without his arm. He's improved very much. Drops, batted balls and zone read are much more concerning.

You have any idea why was the zone read not working?

[Saniflush]

You have any idea why was the zone read not working?

Illiteracy.  DUH!

[RottenBottom]

I agree. I don't think we can blame anything on Nick's passing, except the win. We wouldn't have won without his arm. He's improved very much. Drops, batted balls and zone read are much more concerning.

You have any idea why was the zone read not working?

From some of the analysis I've heard it sounded like the linebackers were shooting the gaps and making nearly impossible to make the reads correctly, since Nick is supposed to read the DE and not the linebackers.

Did the wind have any effect on why Marshall was not putting air under the ball, or  have we accepted that he's never going to properly throw the deep ball?

[AUTiger1]

There were a couple of overthrown balls, but there were 5 glaring drops that would have opened the scoring up.  The receivers all need to be running stadium stairs this weekend.

Watched it live and then watched the replay.

That was the worst I've ever seen our WRs and OLine play. That game is on them and nothing else. CAP struggled the worst he has in his career, but he also didn't have any holes open up for him until the 4th and they were rare.  Like you said, 5 drops and one was a for sure TD.  Marshall didn't have a great game but if those 5 drops are caught, he is 22/31 (70%) and he has at least 275 yards.  That is what we call a good night.  Their play negated a damn good coached D last night. 

Reed did a great job on a future NFL receiver.  Ford had a pretty good night too imo.  Mincy as well.  Frost played a really good game.  D-Line was solid for the most part but we need a pass rush threat and not to sound homerish, but they were holding like hell all night.  I know we let Wes Welker Jr have a great game but on three of his biggest impact catches, he made Garrett look stupid. 

[Snaggletiger]

Jordie Nelson

[WiregrassTiger]

Isn't it great when you have 350 yds of O, win the turnover margin by 2, beat the number 20 team in the country on the road,  holding them to their lowest points in 3 years and everyone bitches about having an off night?

Most interesting thing that I did not know (of which there are not many) is that last night was our first non-conference road win against a ranked opponent since 1984. Many of you will remember that crazy game against FSU. A legendary Jim Fyffe moment.

[AUTiger1]

Isn't it great when you have 350 yds of O, win the turnover margin by 2, beat the number 20 team in the country on the road,  holding them to their lowest points in 3 years and everyone bitches about having an off night?

Yes, yes it is.

[War Eagle!!!]

- But I didn't care.  From the time the game started until Duke caught the game-sealing pass, I just kept wanting to get it over with. 

This. I sat there and said at half time that I just want the game to be over with. It wasn't fun. The game didn't matter if we won...only if we lost. Auburn wasn't playing for anything but SEC pride, and really, fuck the SEC.

But, we are 3-0 and I think if other SEC fans are getting off because they found a weakness in the offense, they have another thing coming to them. I think this performance by the offense will be the exception and not the rule.

Snyder did some things pre-snap that were confusing the shit out of Gus. He looked frustrated all night pre-snap and changed many of the plays at the line. Whatever K-State was doing, needs to be adjusted for because Chavis is going to be watching this game to get his club ready.

[WiregrassTiger]

Snyder did some things pre-snap that were confusing the shoot out of Gus. He looked frustrated all night pre-snap and changed many of the plays at the line. Whatever K-State was doing, needs to be adjusted for because Chavis is going to be watching this game to get his club ready.

I thought that we changed plays more than usual. And I guess we used more play clock than normal, which seemed to get us out of rhythm. It would be interesting to know what they were doing different.

[Snaggletiger]

Isn't it great when you have 350 yds of O, win the turnover margin by 2, beat the number 20 team in the country on the road,  holding them to their lowest points in 3 years and everyone bitches about having an off night?

Most interesting thing that I did not know (of which there are not many) is that last night was our first non-conference road win against a ranked opponent since 1984. Many of you will remember that crazy game against FSU. A legendary Jim Fyffe moment.

Was in Tallahassee for that one.  The stadium at that time had wooden bleachers in both end zones, which is where they put the visiting fans.  They had a nice little system wherein the Indian on his horse would ride right in front of you across the end zone.  Naturally, all kinds of shit would come flying out of the stands at him and as soon as it did, ushers poured out into to end zone pointing at the perpetrators (Including Snags) and security by the dozens came down the steps, toting said perpetrators (Including Snags) out.  Basically amounted to a stern lecture about throwing shit at the Redskinned fella and asking if you would prefer a night in their jail as opposed to watching the rest of the game.  And although a night in jail with several hairy, brutish felons was pretty appealing at the time, I had family with me and they wouldn't have been able to get home.  So, I chose to watch a 42-41 AU victory.

[djsimp]

I thought that we changed plays more than usual. And I guess we used more play clock than normal, which seemed to get us out of rhythm. It would be interesting to know what they were doing different.

Someone mentioned it and it makes sense and that is more LB stunts than what most DCs call. Not to mention, they studied some tape for sure because they found that Marshall has a tendency to throw low to the line of scrimmage. Also, I have a feeling Snyder knows Marshall pretty well since he recruited him so heavily out of JUCO.

[GH2001]

Was in Tallahassee for that one.  The stadium at that time had wooden bleachers in both end zones, which is where they put the visiting fans.  They had a nice little system wherein the Indian on his horse would ride right in front of you across the end zone.  Naturally, all kinds of shit would come flying out of the stands at him and as soon as it did, ushers poured out into to end zone pointing at the perpetrators (Including Snags) and security by the dozens came down the steps, toting said perpetrators (Including Snags) out.  Basically amounted to a stern lecture about throwing shit at the Redskinned fella and asking if you would prefer a night in their jail as opposed to watching the rest of the game.  And although a night in jail with several hairy, brutish felons was pretty appealing at the time, I had family with me and they wouldn't have been able to get home.  So, I chose to watch a 42-41 AU victory.

Thats a cool story grandpa...almost as cool as a BIL story.